


Tinder

by Stealth_Noodle



Category: Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Dark, F/F, Obsession, Pre-Canon, Treat, Triple Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-24
Updated: 2014-10-24
Packaged: 2018-02-22 10:28:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2504525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stealth_Noodle/pseuds/Stealth_Noodle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Branka is a fire to be fed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tinder

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lea_hazel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lea_hazel/gifts).



Branka's eyes are windows on the furnace of her brain; it burns without guttering, without smoke. She is a fire to be fed, and if her husband is not equal to the task, then he does not deserve to tend her.

"He laughed," she spits. "I called him a coward." Less venomously, she adds, "He's no coward. But he scoffs at sacrifice. He has no passion for higher purposes."

To be part of that fire, even for a moment, is worth becoming ash. "I swear to you," Hespith replies, "that we will return with the Anvil, or not at all."

* * *

He does not deserve her; he is not even here to plead his claim. She consumed his house and spat him out like a piece of gristle. After so many months in the Deep Roads, their lives in Orzammar are distant dreams, as insubstantial as shadows.

Hespith has no cause for guilt.

When she hears whispers of mutiny, she silences them without hesitation. Doubt is deadlier than deepstalkers or darkspawn. Branka radiates certainty, enough to melt away the shadows that cling to her back.

Even when they stop to rest, Branka's mind burns. Her skin is almost feverish against Hespith's.

* * *

Bownammar is an infested ruin, stinking of darkspawn. The weaker men attempt to desert; for the first time, Hespith hesitates.

"This will all be ours again," Branka says, her hand clasped hot with Hespith's. "We'll purge every inch of the Deep Roads with golems."

"I've never doubted—"

"Shhh." Branka closes her eyes, letting the reeking air wash over her. "Can't you hear it?"

Hespith hears only the roar of fire, all-consuming. She is no coward now to balk at heat. "Hear me: all that I am is yours, my loyalty, my life, my love."

Branka's lips seize and sear hers.


End file.
